Yvonne Farrell

Ireland

Yvonne Farrell is an Irish architect and academic. Having graduated from University College Dublin in 1974, along with Shelley McNamara, she co-founded Grafton Architects in 1978. She is a fellow of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI), International Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and elected member of Aosdána, the eminent Irish Art organisation.  

Recently completed projects include: The Town House Building, Kingston University London; The School of Economics for the University of Toulouse 1 Capitol; Institut Mines Télécom University Building, Paris Saclay; The Marshall Institute, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, for the London School of Economics; and Headquarters for Electricity Supply Board with OMP architects in Dublin.  

In 2018, Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara were the curators of the Venice Architecture Biennale. Their manifesto “Freespace” was the title of the Biennale. In 2019, the RIAI awarded the James Gandon Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Architecture to Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, which is the highest personal award given to an architect in Ireland. The practice was presented with the 2020 RIBA Royal Gold Medal in London. Grafton Architects was also the winner of the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies Van der Rohe Award 2022 for the Townhouse, Kingston University London.  

Yvonne Farrell, along with Shelley McNamara, were selected as the 2020 Pritzker Prize laureates.